Football Cave

[jacobtlong]

Un
be
LIEV
able.

Wow. Just wow. What a few hours of tense sports drama. And for the youngster to pull it out on his second start ever. Right now, I'm not telling Peyton to hurry up and heal.

Indeed. Who knows what this means going forward, but I honestly didn't think the Broncos stood a snowball's chance in H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks. I thought it would be a blowout 45-Something or other loss. Belichick normally makes mincemeat out of young QB's.

Sure, there were some ticky-tacky calls and key injuries that undoubtedly aided the Broncos, but even then... this is New England. They overcome that sort of stuff, easy. Especially in that kind of weather.

I'm still shocked. That was a great, nail-biting game.

The Patriots will bounce back, though. They play the Eagles next week. Tom Brady could probably even sit that one out and they'll still win by forty.

 

[Grandpa]

Indeed. Who knows what this means going forward, but I honestly didn't think the Broncos stood a snowball's chance in H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks. I thought it would be a blowout 45-Something or other loss. Belichick normally makes mincemeat out of young QB's.

Sure, there were some ticky-tacky calls and key injuries that undoubtedly aided the Broncos, but even then... this is New England. They overcome that sort of stuff, easy. Especially in that kind of weather.

I'm still shocked. That was a great, nail-biting game.

The Patriots will bounce back, though. They play the Eagles next week. Tom Brady could probably even sit that one out and they'll still win by forty.

Yup, there were some ticky-tacky calls, but the Broncos have been victimized by that all season. (Bears got called ZERO times in that game.)(Broncos won.) Bad, or even marginal, officiating is part of the game for everyone.

Patriots were crippled by injuries. Yup. Meanwhile, the Broncos O-line is patched together with baling gum and bubble wire, and they had their young, inexperienced quarterback. Injury crippling is part of the game.

My son came over to watch. Grandma sat between us and hollered more than we did. What a great game (regardless of outcome)(but the outcome helps!).

 

[jacobtlong]

Yup, there were some ticky-tacky calls, but the Broncos have been victimized by that all season. (Bears got called ZERO times in that game.)(Broncos won.) Bad, or even marginal, officiating is part of the game for everyone.

Patriots were crippled by injuries. Yup. Meanwhile, the Broncos O-line is patched together with baling gum and bubble wire, and they had their young, inexperienced quarterback. Injury crippling is part of the game.

My son came over to watch. Grandma sat between us and hollered more than we did. What a great game (regardless of outcome)(but the outcome helps!).

I was thinking some of the same things. Sometimes teams just win games that are dirty and ugly because they put in the effort and it's their moment to do so.

I have no voice right now because I yelled so much. My throat has been sore all week because I've had some nasty congestion and coughing, but right now I can't speak. I'll take the good with the bad in this case.

 

[fljoe0]

I just read an article about Gronk and apparently, he is going to be ok. It didn't look good at first but when he got on the cart, I saw he was putting weight on the leg, so it looked like a good sign to me.

The news on Jimmy Graham is not so good.

 

[cat in a bag]

Glad Gronk is going to be ok. That was the only bad part of the whole amazing game.

Brandon and I were screaming and yelling and jumping around like maniacs. Scared RJ half to death, then he just looked at us like he was in the presence of crazy.

 

[jacobtlong]

Tonight's game should have been flexed out of primetime. Not sure how excited I can get over two teams that have a combined win total of five games. AFC North games can usually be pretty entertaining, but this sounds like some bad football.

 

[Grandpa]

I just read an article about Gronk and apparently, he is going to be ok.

When you have Broncos defensive players coming up to the cart on the field to shake his hand and send him off with good wishes, that speaks well of the man.

 

[fljoe0]

Browns - Ravens tonight. Woo Hoo!!

Sounds like a good night to finish the book I'm reading.

 

[swiftdog2.0]

Tough loss for the Pats. Losing the game is no biggie. Potentially losing Gronk is downright terrifying. We already lost the other 3 top offensive players (Edelman, Lewis, and Amendola) on the team. Not to mention Hightower on the defensive side.

Good game though. Lousy officiating. That's not isolated to last night. Refs have been bloody awful league wide all season.

Broncos would be wise to not play Peyton the rest of the year. I think they are better off with the new guy. Some guy named Brady replaced Bledsoe mid-season about 15 years ago. That worked out pretty well.....

 

[Pucker]

Good game though. Lousy officiating. That's not isolated to last night. Refs have been bloody awful league wide all season.

This is certainly true. It's a funny thing, but through three quarters last night I was very surprised to see how little the officials had injected themselves into the game. Of course, that all changed in the last few minutes, for whatever reason, and as you say, it's just more of what we've been seeing across the league throughout the season. I think most people would be happy with simple consistency, but it does not appear that we are going to get even that. I guess fans can only hope that whomever is making these decisions about who gets flagged and who doesn't -- for whatever nebulous reasons -- (Vegas, maybe?) decides to favor their own team when the games really start to matter.

 

[mcpon14]

USC names Clay Helton as head coach! I'm glad but kind of surprised that they stayed with him. Glad that they did. Hopefully, he won't disappoint.

 

[Grandpa]

I'll posit this about the officiating.

The Broncos have built a nasty reputation on defense for being hard-nosed and physical. Well, that'll bring special attention. Just ask the Raiders in years past. Stupid things (hello, Talib/Mo) don't help. So we see the Broncos/Bears game when the Bears can spear the quarterback lying on the ground without punishment, break up interceptions with interference, wrestle pass rushers to the ground, without calls, while the Broncos get called on anything more than a feather duster touch. Yes, I'm exaggerating a bit, but watch the game. Zero calls on the Bears.

Bring it to the present game. Both teams have a reputation for either nastiness (Broncos) or cheating (Patriots). So if you're a tight end running into a DB and subtly pushing him off, yeah, the flag comes as no surprise. When the officials are expecting you to offend, you're going to lose the close calls. That's why the Broncos got (rightfully) flagged for piling on Brady when the Bears did the same thing the week before with no consequences.

Okay, yeah, the Bears/Broncos game annoyed me a little bit. I'm almost over it now.

 

[Blake]

 

[fljoe0]

Who is Matt Schaub?

He did it again tonight. He is a pick 6 machine.

 

[jacobtlong]

The Ravens win on a miraculous last second field goal return for a touchdown. In spite of Matt Schaub's attempt to throw it away.

This game was much more entertaining than I thought it would be. I'll give it that. And I understand the pain that Browns fans must feel right now better than most.

 

[Lepplady]

That did NOT just happen.

That's all I can say without using language that will get me kicked off.

 

[jacobtlong]

I think someone needs to check on GNTLGNT right now. See how he's taking that one.

 

[Grandpa]

That did NOT just happen.

That's all I can say without using language that will get me kicked off.

I'm quite sure that's what the Patriots fans were saying at the last play of the game Sunday.

Okay. As you might guess, being from Colorado, I have a few Broncos fans who are Facebook friends and vice versa. They are disproportionately giddy about the game last night, although they would disagree with my adverb.

Part of that giddiness has resulted in some hilarious (to me) comments and memes. I won't share them here, mostly because there are Patriots fans, my friends on this board, who are feeling the pain, just as much as the Broncos fans would have if the score had gone the other way. So I'm cautioned to be careful about gloating. Triumph is a fleeting thing, especially in sports, and it can turn around to bite a chunk outta your gluteus (as exemplified by Mr. Brady himself, who trolled the Broncos Facebook page before the game and suffered the slings and arrows right back 24 hours later - be careful how you motivate the other team!).

So let's just give credit where it's due. The backup quarterback took the Broncos from a 14-point deficit and turned it into a fourth-quarter comeback. Football drama doesn't get much better. And then in overtime, he saw the other team's formation on one play (Coach Belichik trying to upset the young quarterback), called an audible at the line, and C.J. Anderson ran 49 yards for the winning TD.

So, no, no memes reposted from me.

Spoiler

But they were hilarious.

 

[fljoe0]

The Ravens win on a miraculous last second field goal return for a touchdown. In spite of Matt Schaub's attempt to throw it away.

This game was much more entertaining than I thought it would be. I'll give it that. And I understand the pain that Browns fans must feel right now better than most.

I remember a game many moons ago that ended just like that. Jacksonville beat the Steelers on a Monday Night game with a blocked FG at the end. Or maybe The Steelers beat Jacksonville - not sure but I'm sure I got the teams right. That's a horrible way to lose. You would figure that even if you miss the FG, you will go to OT.

 

[jacobtlong]

I remember a game many moons ago that ended just like that. Jacksonville beat the Steelers on a Monday Night game with a blocked FG at the end. Or maybe The Steelers beat Jacksonville - not sure but I'm sure I got the teams right. That's a horrible way to lose. You would figure that even if you miss the FG, you will go to OT.

I had to Google that. It was in the 1997 season, back when they were divisional rivals and the Jaguars were good. Jacksonville was up 23-21 when Pittsburgh attempted their ill-fated field goal. The only difference is that OT would have been impossible.